Stephen was martyred, in whose honour our faithful, as still appears, founded a church and archiepiscopate, where now the Sultan's asses are kept ... with the materials of the church a dunghill has been formed." The ruins of this church and _asnerie_ have disappeared in the course of time; the tradition itself has been transplanted to another locality, as we have seen, and would now pass for correct, were it not for the historic documents which have preserved for us the probable position of S. Stephen's martyrdom. Between the Church of S. Stephen and the north-west corner of the city, near the bastions of the walls, was the men's lazaretto, with a church dedicated to S. Lazarus. By the side of it was the small gate of S. Ladro, where the Royal road from the north came to an end by joining that which went from S. Stephen's Gate[813]. Going back from the place of S. Stephen's martyrdom towards the Damascus Gate, we find on the left a road leading eastward; and on the right of this is an aperture, under the city-walls, which stand on a high rock; and close to the aperture a deep excavation. These are the Royal Caverns, and opposite to them, on the north, is the so-called Grotto of Jeremiah[814]. I have already mentioned[815], in speaking of the third line of walls, that I consider these two spots, now separated, to have been formerly united; and now, in giving a more minute account of them, I trust to shew that I am right in my opinion, and that the first-named place has been properly identified with the Royal Caverns of Josephus. It is not unfrequently stated in Jerusalem, that Dr Barclay discovered these great caves, which I call the Royal Caverns: and perhaps he was the first European in this century to describe them, but they were not unknown to the inhabitants of the country. They are called by the Arabs _Megharet el-Kotton_ (the Cotton Grotto), and were known to Mejir-ed-Din, who thus writes of them: "Opposite to and to the south of the _Zahara_" (a Mohammedan cemetery situated above the Grotto of Jeremiah), "and below the northern gate of the city, is a great oblong excavation, called the Cotton Grotto, and some say that it even extends below the _Sakharah_." The notion, indeed, was common in the country, that from these caverns it was possible to penetrate into the _Haram es-Sherîf_: so that the adherents of the government would not allow any one to enter them. The Bedouins, however, and the Arabs of the country, took possession of them during the insurrection, and threatened to blow them up if their demands were not satisfied. I claim the merit of having rendered the passage practicable, and contributed to prove that there is no communication between them and the _Haram_. I have also made a correct plan of them, and conducted many persons thither, acting as their guide; among others, His Excellency Surraya Pasha, M. de Barrère, Consul of France and M. Gérardy Saintine, who in his book 'Trois ans en